A New Mom Came Back to Life 45 Minutes After Her Heart Stopped

After giving birth to her daughter, the 40-year-old suffered a rare amniotic fluid embolism.

On September 23, Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro witnessed not one, but two miracles in her life. The 40-year-old mom gave birth to a newborn daughter and survived 45 minutes without having a pulse.

Following a routine C-section, Graupera-Cassimiro suffered a rare aminotic fluid embolism — a condition where amniotic fluid enters the bloodstream and heart and creates a vacuum, stopping circulation — which is usually fatal.

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For three and a half hours, Boca Rotan Regional Hospital doctors worked on the new mother before calling her family in to say that there was nothing more they could do. And just when they were pronouncing her dead, Graupera-Cassimiro woke up. And miraculously, she suffered no brain damage.

"She essentially spontaneously resuscitated when we were about to call the time of death," said Thomas Chakurda, the hospital spokesman.

Doctors have no explanation for how Graupera-Cassimiro survived the ordeal. But she does.